Sorry I can't answer your question.

However I'm curious about your spacing distance between crowns when you planted. Also what depth?

Thanks.

If I recall correctly I dug a trench about 10 inches deep, put down two inches of composted manure below the crowns so they would have ended up about 8 inches deep, and I think they were spaced about 10" apart.

And... I filled the trench in completely. Partially because the asparagus farm where I bought the crowns said it was okay to do so and we have light sandy soil.

Don't spray with neem oil if the plants are blooming. Bees come for the pollen.

Nice picture!
Whats the string across for?

haha... that's was my OCD kicking in. It was so I dug a straight trench and so all the crowns were planted in a straight line :)

Your string is awesome. :)

I started Guelph Millennium from seed in 2004 (if memory serves) and have a bed of two dozen here myself. Wonderful, wonderful asparagus variety. Our patch is completely neglected a still produces thumb-thick spears for a good six weeks and ferns taller than my six-foot hubby.

The last three or four years, we've been having the same issue with something eating the sides of the top of the shoots, causing them to curl. What's different in our case is that the nibble seems to be happening *before* the spear breaks the soil level. Because of that, my suspects are either asparagus beetle larvae or cutworms.

I've been over to my local greenhouse here in town and to Early's in the city and both places have recommended Sevin. I'm not comfortable using something that indescriminate, though, so I'm still in wait-and-see mode. Last year was the worst year yet (over half the spears had damage), which is why I was looking into control measures. This year, though, there were only a handful here and there. I wonder if the seemingly never-ending winter thinned out some of the pests.

Roughly what percentage of your spears are being damaged? Are you able to wait it out and see if this is something long-term or short-term or is the damage too much?

A mistake I learned I'd been making was using the ferns themselves as winter mulch (seemed simplest just to tuck them over where they lay). Apparently that provides ideal habitat for asparagus beetles to overwinter. I'll be doing away with them this fall and using straw instead. Hopefully that will improve the situation next year. We'll see.

macky77 my asparagus is also Guelph Millennium. :)

I never even thought that they may have been eaten when the were below the dirt but I think its very unlikely. I check (and count) everyday and I'm pretty positive they were fine one day and nibbled a few days later.

We are having a bad year for grasshoppers and about the time I noticed the nibbling we were at the peak (hopefully) of the infestation. Out of the now 60-ish spears maybe 1/2 dozen were nibbled so I'm not too concerned - just annoyed and wanting to prevent further damage.

It seems like every spear that was nibbled had enough damage done to halt their growth but I noticed new spears coming up beside the damaged ones already.

As for the asparagus beetle, I'm not sure how far north you are but I think we are safe from threats of them - unless of course you'll actually caught them!!

If your spears are being damaged below the surface could it be grubs? (japanese beetle larva) We had grub issues in our potatoes a few years ago - they would eat holes in the potatoes and leave exposed tracks around the potatoes making them very difficult to store. We ended up spraying with nematodes a few times in one year and haven't had much of an issue since.

We got the nematodes from Natural Insect Control - http://www.natural-insect-control.com

They were also very helpful in identify the pest. It might be worth contacting them to see what they have to say.